Mslexia

From the Mslexia Workshops Collection

January's Workshop

devised by Margaret Wilkinson

THE BLANK PAGE

Waste Not, Want not

Start with a page of prose, or a single poem. Choose one of these recycling ideas. Only try one at a time.

Write backwards

This means beginning a new piece with the last line of a poem, or the last paragraph of prose, and proceeding backwards: line by line, or paragraph by paragraph. Do not backtrack slavishly. It is only a starting point. The idea is to make good accidents happen. If the last prose paragraph makes a great opening paragraph, but working backwards from the rest is unsatisfactoy, use your judgement and amend the technique as necessary.

Take out every adjective and adverb

Another editing technique that can make the piece less lyrical, more concrete. The problem with adjectives and adverbs is that they fool the writer into thinking she is adequately describing something. Try putting the weight of your description on nouns and verbs instead.

Switch adjectives around

This is fun to try. After you've removed your adjectives, put them back in front of different nouns. You can really liven up your work in this way. Predictable descriptions such as gnarled hands or silvery moonlight, become intriguing and exciting as silvery hands and gnarled moonlight. Make accidents happen.

Change viewpoint

Changing from I to he or she, or vice versa, can significantly change the tone of a piece, making it more intimate, or more distant; more intimate when the subject matter is distant, or more distant when the subject matter is intimate. Changing viewpoint gives old writing new energy and often suggests a direction forward.

Rewrite paradoxically

This final recommendation resulted in real excitement when I tried it in a Short Story Weekend Workshop. Change everything in your piece of writing to it's approximate opposite. Fair-haired with a long pale face, she was a young woman who didn't feel well, would become: Hairless, with a short dark face, he was an old man who felt fine. This techniue helped prose writers re-envision, and in some cases create plot. It transformed nice bits of writing into viable pieces that could be sustained. It made us laugh too.

This workshop was originally published in issue 4 as part of a longer feature. For the latest on the writing world, publishing and creativity subscribe to Mslexia now. To sample more Mslexia features or to find out about the latest issue click here.